Understanding What The Universe Is Guiding You To Do & The 6 Instincts You Should Never Ignore

Today I wanted to talk about instincts you should never ignore.  Our intuition fascinates me.  The fact that we have something so powerful within our bodies to guide us.  Something so powerful yet ignored by most.

You know the feeling: our gut instinct is telling us to go down one road, but the sat nav tells us to follow the other route.  You decide to override your internal compass and follow the sat nav.  Twenty minutes later you’re lost in the forest wishing you’d just followed the weird feeling in your stomach.

So, what exactly do I mean by intuition?  Simply put, a thought is something along the lines of “it’s cold in here”, while a fear is “I wonder if they think I’m stupid”.  Intuition, however, could be “You know what. I think I could run a business doing that…” or “I just feel like we had a spark – an initial connection I’ve not felt before”. It’s a sense of something.

For many of us, it’s hard to listen to our intuition because there’s too much damn noise.  Physically and mentally.  We are consumed by content, opinions and news every single day, which makes it harder and harder to listen to what we are really feeling inside and what the universe is really pulling is to do.

We have so much power inside to guide us on the right path. Yet we trust others with what might be right for us. We trust tarot cards before we trust our gut.  We trust technology before we trust what we’re really thinking. But why would anything or anyone know better than your own body, mind and soul?  You know better than anyone what instincts you should never ignore.

Over the years I have learnt to listen closely to my intuition and trust in myself, especially when it comes to business.  Last year, for example, I sat one night and I had such a strong feeling I needed to write a blog post as a beginners guide to manifestation.

Something was pulling me to that, and if I hadn’t have listened, or had brushed the thought off and retreated back to watching Million Dollar Listing, I wouldn’t be sitting here now living this life. I can barely bring myself to contemplate that, knowing where I am now. 

But have there been times when I haven’t listen to my gut instinct?

Absolutely.

Around 4 years ago, everything inside me told me not to meet this guy for a drink one night, because in the pit of my stomach something wasn’t sitting right. But all of my friends kept telling me to just give someone a chance for a change.

You know what happened?

He made me pay for the drinks as his card “didn’t work” apparently and then left me in a bar at midnight alone when I went to the toilet and he decided to leave and not tell me.  Burn. 

If only I had listened to my gut instead of my well-meaning friends. 

There are a number of ways you can start to tune into your intuition, some slightly more obvious, some a little unexpected.

Journalling – writing down exactly how we’re feeling is a great way to understand what our gut is really trying to tell us. Bring those fears and thoughts to the surface and start to make your way through them.  What are they telling you?

Meditation – remember I told you that sometimes we just need to silence the noise?  Meditation is the perfect way to take a quiet moment and listen to your body.  It can prove tough at first to slow down your thoughts but I find guided meditation a great way to pull me back if my mind wanders.

Ask – OK, I admit, I’m partial to asking for a sign from the universe when my head is trying to override my heart, and even though we know the answer to our question deep down, it can take the sight of a white feather or recurring numbers to solidify our decision.

Exercise – When we move, even just walking for 30 minutes, our creative juices get flowing again and our instincts are able to come more freely to the surface.  You might even find that when you walk or run some of your best ideas come to you, because the mind has a chance to transition into stillness.

Rest – If you are tired and overworked, you will struggle to hear what your gut is trying to tell you, so make sleep a priority over the latest Netflix binge.

Acknowledgment – If a fear arises – say you want to launch your own business but feel so fearful, you can’t take the first step – then acknowledge said fear and sit with yourself to work out what the fear is at the very root. Where is this mindset coming from?  What is it linked to?  Is it a fact or a belief? Sometimes they just need to be heard to tend to and quell them.

Take action – The biggest way to become more intuitive is to take action.  Why?  Because the more you feed off your gut instinct, the more in tune you will become.  Make a promise to yourself that for one day only, you will be led solely by intuition and see what happens.  It might prove difficult at first but you’ll soon understand what your body is guiding you to do, whether that’s a twang of excitement, sweaty palms or just a feeling that something is…off. You’ll find your intuition gets louder or just easier to recognise the more often you listen to it.

Trust – One of the most important things you can do as a human is learn to trust yourself.  This is something you have to work overtime on, but I will often always ask myself, if one option was to go away now would I be disappointed or relieved with the remaining option.  Your first thought, before fear kicks in, is your intuition.

Of course, we have to remember to our gut instinct is there for both negative and positive responses.

When our intuition is guiding us to something positive, our bodies react with a warm sense of familiarity, butterflies in our stomachs, being able to hear and take in every word and a calmness of breath.

However, when our intuition is warning us of danger, we might feel a knot in our stomach, our breath and heartbeat increases, our bodies going into fight or flight mode, or the feeling of being sick.